There was nothing more than a small shake of the head from Claudio Ranieri when Robert Pires's header bounced into Chelsea's net, but inside the Italian must have felt as if his whole world had been shaken. A few seconds beforehand a resounding message had been winging its way to the hierarchy at Stamford Bridge. Suddenly normal service against Arsenal had resumed.

In the minutes after Eidur Gudjohnsen gave Chelsea the lead, even the powers here in west London who have started searching for Ranieri's successor must have been moved. Not only were Chelsea attacking with vim but the home supporters were chanting the coach's praises.

"Ranieri's blue and white army" came the shout. Earlier a lusty chorus of "One Ranieri" had filled the air. But if the fans and players were doing their bit for Ranieri, in an instant everything altered. For a while after Arsenal scored the belief and guts that had carried Chelsea into the lead ebbed away. Though they tried to rally, never giving up on their coach, the damage was done.

Yet again Ranieri had failed to get the better of Arsène Wenger. Roman Abramovich and Peter Kenyon will feel they were right all along. An extra layer of intrigue had been added to the match by the uncertainty of how Chelsea's players would respond to the strongest raft of stories yet about Ranieri's future. Several squad members have backed the head coach publicly but Ranieri was looking for actions not words last night. He had made a point of gathering his players in the buildup to tell them to concentrate on the job rather than the fact that he will almost certainly no longer have one at Chelsea come the start of next season.

"I said to them it's important to be focused on the match," he explained. "There are no excuses. I want them to put their mind on the pitch."

Talk about Ranieri's job prospects have been swirling about for so long that the players can hardly have been stunned by the reaction over recent days. John Terry had suggested, though, that the increased hullabaloo surrounding Ranieri had added to the determination.

"We want to go out there and do the job for the manager," he said, "because a lot of players owe him a lot."

There could be no doubting the effort put in by Chelsea from the off, whether it was with Ranieri in mind or nothing more than their own ambition and sense of occasion. Their desire to stifle Arsenal by closing down rapidly while trying to mount attacks of their own, often down the left, was plain, even if Arsenal had the upper hand to begin with.

Claude Makelele looked more up for a tussle than for some while and the impressive Frank Lampard was his usual bundle of energy, snapping into tackles, making interceptions and looking to lay off passes. On the way off at halftime he excanged words with Pires, and Ranieri's job prospects was certainly not the issue up for discussion.

With Scott Parker used at right midfield it was clear that Ranieri wanted men who reflected his own mentality.

"I am a gladiator," the coach had said on the eve of the match, and two strong and important tackles by Parker on Pires to foil counterattacks were full of such spirit. Similar effort filled every member of the Chelsea side. Adrian Mutu chased back to pester Arsenal's strikers, the aim clearly being to deny them the opportunity to settle on the ball in every area of the pitch.

Marcel Desailly, who can seem pedestrian at times, looked utterly focused. The trouble for Chelsea was that Arsenal, as expected, were full of gladatorial spirit of their own. That was epitomised at the back by Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure and in midfield by Patrick Vieira and Edu. It meant that even when Chelsea did get on top as the first half wore on they found chances hard to come by until Eidur Gudjohnsen's strike.

The steady improvement in Chelsea's play and grip on the game was reflected in the gradually increasing animation shown by Ranieri on the touchline. To begin with he had been fairly passive, standing at the front of the Chelsea bench and occasionally straying into his technical area.

Soon, though, the familiar whistles and hand gestures came into view. There was a plea for calm from his players here, an instruction as to where he wanted people there. The shape and discipline of his team was uppermost in his mind as Arsenal tried to strike on the break. Ranieri's passion shone through as he turned towards his coaching staff to shout in anger at an error by his side or a decision by the officials. The Italian may sense his time here is running out but he has no wish to go out with a whimper.

After momentarily raising his arms - fists clenched with delight - when Chelsea took the lead, Ranieri stood emotionless as his players celebrated Gudjohnsen's goal. Perhaps he knew what would follow for, sure enough, Arsenal's equaliser was not long in coming. Cries of "Ranieri's blue and white army" defiantly rang out near the finish.